My Favorite Quotes

These are some of my favorite quotes. There are about 150 here, and I am adding more each week. My plan is to get the top 500 growth, leadership, and inspirational type quotes in this listing. That way, if you’re looking for a good quote, you can hopefully find it here. I try to memorize a new quote every day. Some people have been inspired to make paradigm shifts in their thinking because of a good quote. I know there have been times that they have rescued me from trouble and stinkin thinkin. Enjoy – but don’t just enjoy – employ these to your greater advantage! Apply your knowledge! If you don’t find your favorite, leave it in the comments so I can enjoy it, too!

Every problem is a leadership problem.– Royce White

The toughest part of getting started, is getting started. — Don White (Dad)

Seek first to understand, then to be understood. — Stephen R. Covey

I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse. – Florence Nightingale

You’ll never be great at anything you’re not passionate about. – Royce White

Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply. – Stephen R. Covey

I do not have superior intelligence or faultless looks. I do not captivate a room or run a mile under six minutes. I only succeeded because I was still working after everyone else went to sleep. – Greg Evans

Fall seven times and stand up eight. – Japanese Proverb

Every excuse I ever heard made perfect sense to the person who made it. – Dr. Daniel T. Drubin

That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well. – Abe Lincoln

We learn to trust man when he does what we expect him to do; we learn to trust God when He doesn’t do what we expect Him to do. – Royce White

Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears. – Les Brown

If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much. – Jim Rohn

Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear. – George Addair

If you can dream it, you can achieve it. – Zig Ziglar

Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right. – Henry Ford

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. – Napoleon Hill

Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts. – Winston Churchill

The way to get started is to quit talking and start doing. – Walt Disney

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. – Wayne Gretzky

Success is not a destination, it’s a journey. — Zig Ziglar

Success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person we become. — Jim Rohn

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails. — John Maxwell

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. – Maya Angelou

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, I used everything you gave me. – Erma Bombeck

Welcome every morning with a smile. Look on the new day as another special gift from your Creator, another golden opportunity to complete what you were unable to finish yesterday. Be a self-starter.” – Og Mandino

Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result. — Oscar Wilde

For true success ask yourself these four questions: Why? Why not? Why not me? Why not now? — James Allen

The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. – Amelia Earhart

Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. – Albert Einstein

Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you. – Jim Rohn

Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome. – Arthur Ashe

You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. – Albert Einstein

It’s never too late to be who you might have been. – George Elliot

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. – Michael Jordan

I believe that being successful means having a balance of success stories across the many areas of your life. You can’t truly be considered successful in your business life if your home life is in shambles. – Zig Ziglar

A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week. – General George Patton

One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation – Arthur Ashe

Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential. — John Maxwell

When people say “If I only knew then what I know now” makes me wonder why they aren’t using that wisdom now.” – Rob Liano

If you don’t live in your strengths, you’ll die in your weaknesses. Do first and most what you’re good at, and bring others along who are good at your weaknesses. – Royce White

Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground. — Theodore Roosevelt

Eighty percent of success is showing up. – Woody Allen

What is joy without sorrow? What is success without failure? What is a win without a loss? What is health without illness? You have to experience each if you are to appreciate the other. There is always going to be suffering. It’s how you look at your suffering, how you deal with it, that will define you.” – Mark Twain

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. – Robert Frost

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character. – Albert Einstein

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. – John C. Maxwell

The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me? — Ayn Rand

It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed. – Napoleon Hill

An unexamined life is not worth living. – Socrates

Good tactics can save even the worst strategy. Bad tactics will destroy even the best strategy. – General George Patton

You must do the very thing you think you cannot do. – Eleanor Roosevelt

We become what we think about. – Earl Nightingale

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. – Colin Powell

The only way to do great work is to love what you do. – Steve Jobs

Men are born to succeed, not fail. — Henry David Thoreau

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. — Herman Cain

You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want. — Zig Ziglar

Life is not “either or,” it’s “both and.” – Royce White

We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment. – Jim Rohn

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. – Theodore Roosevelt

You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically, to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. The enemy of the “best” is often the “good.” – Stephen R. Covey

People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision. – John C. Maxwell

Learn how to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want. – Jim Rohn

When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us. – Helen Keller

Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing. – Albert Einstein

Success comes before work only in the dictionary. — Anonymous

You can’t change the past – but you can change the present which will affect your future. – Royce White

Speak clearly, if you speak at all; carve every word before you let it fall. – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. – Stephen R. Covey

Learn to say ‘no’ to the good so you can say ‘yes’ to the best. – John Maxwell

Many times, when I was having a hard time with one of my children, God would always remind me that He was having a harder time with me than I was with them. – Charlie Jones

You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try. – Beverly Sills

There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing. – Aristotle

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure. – Bill Cosby

Take 30 seconds to encourage everyone you meet today. Everyone. Be genuine and transparent. And do it. Then do it tomorrow. Repeat. – Royce White

Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune. – Jim Rohn

Success is how you bounce on the bottom. – General George Patton

Education costs money. But then so does ignorance. – Sir Claus Moser

Would you rather train someone and lose them, or not train someone and keep them? — Zig Ziglar

The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore. — Dale Carnegie

I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear. – Rosa Parks

God gives every bird a worm, but he does not throw it into the nest. – Swedish Proverb

Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be and he will become as he can and should be.” – Stephen R. Covey

The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda. – John C. Maxwell

Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown. – Ross Perot

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. – Steve Jobs

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. – Neale Donald Walsch

I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it. – Pablo Picasso

Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present. – Jim Rohn

Great leaders remove obstacles—including themselves. – Royce White

The thing that lies at the foundation of positive change, the way I see it, is service to a fellow human being. – Lee Iacocca

It is wrong and immoral to seek to escape the consequences of one’s acts. – Mahatma Gandhi

Nobody’s a natural. You work to get good and then work to get better. It’s hard to stay on top. – Paul Gallico

You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. – Christopher Columbus

Motivation gets you started. Habit keeps you going. – Jim Rohn

A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart. – Jonathan Swift

You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read. Choose both carefully. – Charlie Jones

Change is inevitable. Growth is optional. – John Maxwell

As a man thinketh in his heart, so shall he be. – James Allen

But until a person can say deeply and honestly, “I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday,” that person cannot say, “I choose otherwise.” – Stephen R. Covey

The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That’s the day we truly grow up. – John C. Maxwell

The secret to Success isn’t failing; the secret to success is failing forward.– Royce White

Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. – Jeremy Kitso

I would rather fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed than succeed in a cause that will ultimately fail. – Woodrow T. Wilson

Opportunities are usually disguised by hard work, so most people don’t recognize them. – Ann Landers

People begin to become successful the minute they decide to be. – Harvey Mackay

The distance is nothing; it is only the first step that is difficult. – Mme. Du Deffand

In each of us are places where we have never gone. Only by pressing the limits do you ever find them. – Dr. Joyce Brothers

Companies fail for lack of brains and effort. – Mark Cuban

The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken. – Samuel Johnson

When no one is selfless in a relationship, there is war. When one is selfless, there is peace. When both are selfless, there is joy. – Royce White

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. – John Maxwell

Look at every situation as if you were in the future and you were looking back on it. – General Peter Schoomaker

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. – Thomas Edison

It is not wise, or even possible, to divorce private behavior from public leadership – though there are those who have gone to great lengths to suggest that this is the only possible view of “enlightened” individuals. They are wrong. They are deceived. By it’s very nature, true leadership carries with it the burden of being an example. Is it asking too much of any public officer, elected by his or her constituents, to stand tall and be a model for the people – not only in the ordinary aspects of leadership but in his or her behavior? If values aren’t established and adhered to at the top, behavior down the ranks is seriously jeopardized and undermined. Indeed, in any organization where such is the case – be it a family, a corporation, a society, or a nation – the values being neglected will in time disappear. – Gordon B. Hinckley

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. – Mark Twain

If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise… – Robert Fritz

If you think you’re leading but nobody is following you, you’re only taking a walk. – Afghan Proverb

We learn to trust man when he does what we expect him to do; we learn to trust God when He doesn’t do what we expect Him to do. – Royce White

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today. – Abraham Lincoln

The law of diminishing intent: “The longer you wait to do something you should do now, the greater the odds that you will never actually do it.” – Anon O’Mous

If you put a small value on yourself, rest assured, the world will not raise the price. – John C. Maxwell.

The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured. – Mark Twain

If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. – Jim Rohn

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity. – General George Patton

Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Don’t wish it were easier; wish you were better. – Jim Rohn

Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out. – John Wooden

If you’re going through hell, keep going. – Winston Churchill

If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work. – Thomas J. Watson

The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus. – Bruce Lee

What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise. – Oscar Wilde

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. – Mark Twain

We become what we think about most of the time, and that’s the strangest secret. – Earl Nightingale

Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great. – John D. Rockefeller

The dangers of life are infinite, and among them is safety. – Goethe

Our greatest fear should not be of failure… but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter. – Francis Chan

Nobody ever wrote down a plan to be broke, fat, lazy, or stupid. Those things are what happen when you don’t have a plan. – Larry Winget

To be successful you must accept all challenges that come your way. You can’t just accept the ones you like. – Mike Gafka

I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well. – Diane Ackerman

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. – Thomas A. Edison

If you can’t change the status quo, make the status quo, change. –Royce White

Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind. – Rudyard Kipling

To hold a pen is to be at war. – Voltaire

No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar. – Abraham Lincoln

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far it is possible to go – T.S. Eliot

Cultivate unshakeable zeal for the glory of God’s name. — Anonymous

Do not fear mistakes. There are none. – Miles Davis

To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself. – Soren Kierkegaard

If you risk nothing, then you risk everything. – Geena Davis

If it’s a good idea, go ahead and do it. It’s much easier to apologize than it is to get permission. – Rear Admiral Grace Hopper

People who don’t take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. – Peter Drucker

Yes, risk-taking is inherently failure-prone. Otherwise, it would be called ‘sure-thing-taking.’ – Jim McMahon

Opportunity dances with those on the dance floor. – Anony Mous

Test fast, fail fast, adjust fast. – Tom Peters

What you have to do and the way you have to do it is incredibly simple. Whether you are willing to do it is another matter. – Peter Drucker

Look at a man the way that he is, he only becomes worse. But look at him as if he were what he could be, then he becomes what he should be. – Goethe

The dangers of life are infinite, and among them is safety. – Goethe

Rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. – J. K. Rowling

Don’t be afraid to fail, be afraid not to try. – Anonymous

Men are not against you; they are merely for themselves. ― Gene Fowler

The moral test of a society is how that society treats those who are in the dawn of life—the children; those who are in the twilight of life—the elderly; and those who are in the shadow of life—the sick, the needy, and the handicapped. — Hubert Humphrey

Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve…You don’t have to know the secod theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. — Martin Luther King

You tell me and I forget. You teach me and I remember. You involve me and I learn. — Ben Franklin

You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent. — Marilyn Von Savant

The debt that each generation owes to the past, it must pay to the future. — Abigail Scott Dunaway

If your ship doesn’t come in. Swim out to it. — Jonathan Winters

A volunteer is like a rare gem. When placed in the right setting and cared for, they will shine and give pleasure to all who see them.— Unknown

He who has never fallen knows no heights. —Unknown

Jesus is not a poor puny savior looking for anyone’s acceptance—He is a sovereign Lord and King who is worthy of everyone’s praise. — David Platt

There aren’t any great men. There are just great challenges that ordinary men like you and me are forced by circumstances to meet.— William f. Halsey, Jr.

When people forget themselves, they usually do things others remember.—James Coco

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.— Edmond Burke

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.— John Wesley

Ain’t Nothin’ to It, But to Do it!— Maya Angelou

Where apathy is the master, all men are slaves.— Unknown

To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.— Abraham Lincoln

Each one of us should lead a life stirring enough to start a movement.— Max Lucado

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.— Goethe

If you’re not accountable for your life then ultimately your life doesn’t count.— RC Sproul

About Royce White

My goal and my purpose is to help you succeed. I don’t just want to give you content that teaches, but content that leads, pushes, helps, moves and otherwise drives you to accomplish. I want to give you both head knowledge and heart knowledge. I want to walk beside you in your journey to the top and help you any way I can.